Eugene Brancoveanu's Salon at the Rex

* Notes *
Yesterday evening Eugene Brancoveanu gave a recital of Gerald Finzi's Let us Garlands Bring, Schumann's Dichterliebe, and Ravel's Don Quichotte à Dulcinée. The room for the Salons at the Rex series is rather intimate, and Brancoveanu started off a tad too loud in the first few songs. His diction in English is nearly perfect, I only detected a few stray vowels here and there that perhaps were not quite right. His German diction was startlingly perfect, and when John Parr, the accompanist, mentioned that Eugene grew up in Germany, it became clear why. The percussiveness of "Die Rose, die Lilie" was done well, "Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen" was sung with great delicacy, and "Die alten, bösen Lieder" was absolutely beautiful. The three songs of Don Quichotte à Dulcinée were cute, and certainly Eugene was adorable, especially when he sang the "Chanson à boire," in which he included an impressive head bobble. The encore was the aria/canzonetta "La Nebbia."

* Tattling *
The turnout was good, nearly every seat was taken. Eugene videotaped the performance for his wife, who was unable to attend. There was only one watch alarm at 7pm, somewhere in the first few rows to the right.

Hotel Rex seems to have a resident pug, who is very quiet, well-behaved, and friendly. Soprano Heidi Melton was possibly as charmed by said pug as I was.